Amber Joy Young – Offering Care and Support

Wishing you beautiful blessings this Thanksgiving weekend.  I realize this year will potentially look very different for many of us, I am so grateful for our beautiful community and this year I wish for each of you a peaceful heart.

Thanksgiving is  a time we pause and take stock of all we have to be grateful for, often the most important and soul nourishing are the simplest daily miracles that surround us.  As I look out my window I have a deep appreciation as we settle into our new home in the forest as my own roots sink a little deeper into this sacred land.  I give thanks as I find myself surrounded by the most brilliant canvas of colours as the trees consider the shedding of their leaves, preparing for the colder months.

I am grateful to be here, honouring this land, and all the beings that take residence amongst the trees – on the ground and in the air.

I am grateful for my body, as challenging as it can sometimes be, it is what carries me through my life and I know it is here with  me for this entire time around.  Sometimes we wish we could just trade these bodies in, but they are here for the long haul.  I am grateful as I learn to care for myself, my body supports me with gratitude for the daily practice of self care and  compassion.

I am grateful for all the lessons life offers me on a daily basis, I don’t always feel the gratitude at the time, but when I reflect back I realize how critical each stepping stone has been on my journey – finding the gifts in the darkest of moments.  I am especially grateful to those lessons that keep resurfacing until I  finally “get it”, and give myself the time to integrate the learning, the releasing, and the ultimate growth.

I am grateful for where I am.  It has not always been an easy road, but when we hold tight to what is most important – those simple whisperings of the soul and the deep acknowledgement of gratitude on a daily basis, we are heard.  With patience we end up where we are supposed to be, where we are most supported to grow fully into ourselves, I am grateful.  I urge you to never give up on your dreams, as wild as they might seem – for those are the true yearnings of your soul  – I beg you to not let yourself down.

I am grateful for all the people in my life, and the awareness that we truly are all mirrors and  messengers.  Teachers come in many different forms, I am grateful for the wisdom to listen and to let go.

I am grateful that the answers to our deepest questions live right inside each of us, and no one else can give you those answers, the answers JUST for you – they are there waiting within, waiting for you to hear them.

I wish for you time to sit and reflect on your own gratitude musings.

Starting on Monday I’ll be starting another 30 days of yoga support, only this time the theme will be gratitude.  I hope you will join me on this immersion of appreciation, Either for a few landmark days or for the whole journey.

Our Surya Daya Blog and my Patreon Page will be holding space for Day 1, Day 10, Day 20 and Day 30 – If you want to follow along for the full 30 days, 1-30 will be posted here

I have a pay what you can model (from $10 US – $25 US), and you can cancel at anytime – right after the 30 days if you’d like!

Every day there will be a gratitude reflection with a short practice video offering you movement, postures, pranayama, or meditations (which you’ll be able to download)  ranging from 5 – 20 minutes, to support your own wellness inspired gratitude journey.

This will be similar to what I offered our community back in April when COVID really sunk into our world.

Our online live classes continue, fueled by your feedback we know these classes have become an anchor in an ever changing landscape – internally and externally, they are for me too! Stay tuned for updates to our schedule here

If you wanted to purchase an online pass the links are below (old passes are also valid for online offerings), or send me an email if you have questions.

This is such a different time, in so many ways, and so many of us, personally and professionally, have been greatly impacted.

I know many of our shops will be open this weekend,  a chance to safely connect in community and support our local business’s.

I’m not sure what things will look like moving forward, but our commitment to our community has only strengthened.  We realize we will be starting from a new place one day, an even more community focused space honouring wherever we are in our lives at that time – building a new foundation to safely hold space in a way that supports the world we’ll be reentering.

Please let us know if you have any questions, thoughts, or if we can offer you some extra support through these practices.

May you and your loved ones stay safe this holiday weekend.

Sending you so much love, and a big deep gratitude filled breath

Amber

Drop in Online Live Class

10 Class Package Online Live Group Classes

Amber’s Patreon Page

Welcome to my blog, even if you’ve been here a hundred times before, I welcome you now with new eyes.

We are in a new world and I truly hope you can give yourself space and time to realign with how things need to shift for YOU.  I have been holding safe space as a guardian of a community space for 3 years, truthfully I had only just begun and then, last March, as you all know, our doors were forcibly closed due to the state of our world.

Since that time I have been trying to hold peoples hands through closed windows and closed doors.  This blog space became a safe space for me to reflect and explore ways to help my community; through yoga practices, meditations, quote contemplation and reflective writing. It has been a journey, and it would seem our journey is taking yet another turn.   I invite you to join me as we stay the course, not losing sight of what is needed – for each of us individually and in that honouring – we support our greater community through the ripples we create.

My hopes are you will take time for yourself, try not to get caught up in fear, with no expectations other than to perhaps grow a little more fuller into yourselves through the challenges, the understanding and all the growth we find ourselves in – right now, in this present time in our lives.  I am so honoured to be on this journey with you, as scary as it is sometimes,  and it is my intention in starting this blog today, with fresh eyes – as we will never be the same, to offer you another avenue of continued support.

It is my hopes I will continue to have guest writers sharing, holding and helping to broaden our perspective through reflection and experiential practices on this journey of life.  It is my hopes to continue to support a community space, resonate with what is needed now.

Who am I?  This past May I took an incredible and life changing weekend course with Kathleen Burr, one of my loving and wise teachers.  The course was Trauma Informed Yoga, kind of divinely timed as I signed up way before COVID hit, but that weekend has changed the way I hold space with a greater sensitivity to the world we find ourselves in at this point in time.  Before we can step forward we need to understand who we even are, Kathleen urged us to reflect and deepen our understanding of the aspects of who we truly are and where we come from with honesty, so we can do our work with integrity from an authentic clear place.

I share with you a snapshot of my own personal reflection;

I honour my own unfurling reflecting on my journey leading me up to this moment in my life; as a white woman, heterosexual, living in Canada, born in Manitoba, residing in rural Ontario,  lifetime student and yoga guide, wellness advocate for able and disabled bodied people, grew up in a lower class abusive and alcoholic home, daughter to my mother with dementia, anti-racist activist, massage therapist, healer, sister, friend, daughter, mommy to Noah and Lucas, wife to Jay, guardian of 3 cats, hidden illness, thriving with Lupus, lover of nature, sister of Avalon, guardian of Surya Daya, contributor to my community, I long for a simple life in alignment with the rhythms of the land, I dream of keeping bees and sharing  yoga and mindfulness in connection to the land, creating accessible practices grounded in ancient traditions, activist against violence and trauma in all forms, connected to my ancestors, environmental advocate, believer in equality, breast health educator, spiritual being, gardener, mid – lower class, writer, novice guitar player, gong explorer, joy seeker, lover of life.

I ask you now, who are YOU??  Take some time to allow your process to flow through you, honour the history of your life so you can make more intentional steps forward.  Allow the joy and the grief of who you were to pass through you, so you can live your way into who you are NOW.  Every chapter of your story is integral, EVERY chapter.

Please know I honour you, the whole real story of who you are – the darkness and the light.

I would also like to share a piece I wrote following that weekend I was privileged to be able to immerse myself in.  These are my hopes for our world as we travel through this time of truth, of confusion, of unknowns, of healing, of instability, ups and downs, of hope and of change.

My prayer for a just and beautiful world is that as a species we can truly learn to live with reverence and respect, honouring the needs of one another and our true home, the earth

I pray for people to practice non-violence for all sentient beings and the land we inhabit.

I pray for all creatures to feel in their hearts their innate value and worth; for all people to feel support and supported

I pray we all learn to move through our lives living our practice, not only on our mats, but in every decision, every word spoken, every process, every action – especially when it’s not so easy

It’s time, our world is crying out for all the injustices, can we respond with strength, integrity, and kindness.; Can we individually refuse to perpetuate any more harm – remember it starts with you and me.

Our earth needs us, the creatures that live here need to be infused with kindness and equality.

I pray we can see each other’s differences and move from a place of compassion. I pray that we can learn to honour those differences and commit to doing better.

I pray we can learn to live with peace and harmony.

With love to you all

Amber Young

https://www.patreon.com/amberyoungwellness

Please know we are here holding safe space for you.

It is important to for us to continue to make our support and our yoga resources accessible and available to YOU, we are just working on some creative ways to help strengthen that support.

Some of us have decided to continue to offer our online classes (live and recorded practices), even after we can reopen our doors – wherever those doors may end up being.  The schedule changes on a regular basis so make sure you check in from time to time.

We invite you to sign up for the classes you’d like to attend in the following way.

• To sign up for the Live Stream Class first go to our class schedule
• Second, just click on the class (es) you’d like to attend that week (or the weeks ahead) and the system will walk you through the registration process.  Please note you do need to reserve your spot a minimum of 6 hours before the class start time.   It’s easy, and only requires your name and email address to reserve your spot.
• Once you have signed up for, and reserved your spot for any of our  classes, you will receive a confirmation email stating the Class Name, Date and Time you are signed up for.
• 20 minutes before the classes you have registered for,  you will receive a second email with the Zoom access link and password for the class.  Click on the link to join the class via Zoom.

You will also need to register for our in person classes, due to number restrictions – we will let you know once our schedule is posted, as well as all of our in person details and safety rules to ensure this is a positive and supportive experience for everyone.   Again – details to come.

Payment options

For all of our classes at present, you will need to buy your pass separately from the registration process

We do have several different tiers of consideration for payment that we are offering.  If you are able to contribute a little, we would ask you to consider our pay what you can model – where you can simply send us an etransfer in the amount that you’re able, either class by class, or as a lump sum amount.  As I mentioned, our primary intent is to help support you right now, whatever that needs to look like with your present situation.

• If you have an existing Class Pass in our system, we will be using those passes automatically for online classes (apart from the monthly unlimited passes unless you have directed us otherwise – these will remain on hold). Once you’re registered we can better keep track of your attendance and more efficiently use your pass.

• We have created a new Online live class option – with a drop – in fee of $7.00 to purchase click here or a 10 class live on-line pass package for $70 to purchase click here.  These new online passes can be purchased through our website or you can send an e-transfer to info@suryadaya.ca.  These passes are for our online classes only.
• If you don’t have a studio pass, no worries and no stress – remember we’re a yoga studio, the last thing we want to create for you is stress.  We have our pay what you can option  (these payments can be sent via e-transfer to info@suryadaya.ca or you can mail cheques made out to Surya Daya, PO Box 867, Almonte, ON, K0A 1A0.  Just send us an email to let us know, no amount is to small, here you get to choose – and we’ll make a note in your account.

Our in person class payment details will be sent once our schedule is confirmed.

AGAIN, for online classes:

• Once you have signed up for, and reserved your spot for any of our  classes, you will receive a confirmation email stating the Class Name, Date and Time you are signed up for.
• 20 minutes before the classes you have registered for,  you will receive a second email with the Zoom access link and password for the class.  Click on the link to join the class via Zoom.
• You will not be prompted to make a payment in the registration process, that is done either by etransfer, sending an email if you are mailing us a cheque, or by credit card on our website
• If you register for any of Amber’s classes (Tuesday afternoon or Saturday morning), even if you’re not able to attend, she is now sending out a link through her Patreon Account to a recorded and downloadable version of the class for you to practice along with her at any time.  This is a separate service from our Surya Daya classes, but allows you to access Amber’s classes anytime.

If ANY of this is confusing, then please take a deep breath and take your time reading over all this information a second time. If it is still confusing, then please give me us a call at 613-451-2891 or send us an email at info@suryadaya.ca

We are here to support you, through this time and beyond.  We are excited at what the future holds for all of us.  It may look different, but hopefully we are all being given this time of uncertainty to clarify what is truly important as we move forward in our lives.

Take good care, always,